Today is Bubble wrap Appreciation Day! Everyone appreciates bubble wrap, or at least popping it. In addition, it is a great material to protect your goods. However, like any petroleum-based material, bubble wrap isn’t the most sustainable material to use as packaging. After all, it is usually only used once or twice before someone starts popping it and throws it away. So instead of bubble wrap, let’s appreciate today some sustainable alternative packaging materials!

Mycelium
What can’t mycelium, or the roots of mushrooms, do? You can use it in architectural projects, for interior design solutions, even in fashion! And it can be used as a packaging material as well! By letting it grow into a mould, you’ll never have to fear for the safety of your products again!

Seaweed
Seaweed can also be used to make packaging material. Designer Felix Pöttinger, for instance, uses seagrass, a waste material, to make biodegradable packaging that is even anti-bacterial!

Designer Austeja Platukyte uses seaweed in a different way. She uses a mixture of agar, which is extracted from seaweed, calcium carbonate, and a vegetable based emulsifying mix to create a sustainable packaging material.

Bagasse
Bagasse is a waste material from sugar production. It is used for, for instance, biofuel, but it is also suitable to turn into a mouldable packaging material, mixed with cotton or used on its own.

Palm fibre
Palm fibre is also a waste material that is suitable to make into packaging material.

Reusable packaging
Rather than throwing packaging away after one use, designer Mireia Gordi i Vila created a stretchable, cushioning elastic composite membrane that is not only reusable, but also fits various types of fragile objects.

The future of packaging
Last week, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation announced the 5 winners of the Circular Materials Challenge, which all provide future sustainable alternatives for packaging materials!

Can’t get enough of packaging? Visit Materia’s trade fair Material Xperience on 13-14-15 March 2018 in Ahoy Rotterdam, the Netherlands, where we show various innovative packaging materials! Get your free ticket here.